The Zhitong Finance App learned that Changshi Group (01113) held a shareholders' meeting on May 23. Company Chairman Li Zezhu said that Hong Kong's local property market has always had rigid demand, and that long-term development is still being supported. After the “elimination”, the local property market will continue to be dominated by housing policies and interest rates. After the “withdrawal” of the property market, several developers successively promoted properties at low prices, including Blue Coast under Changshi's Wong Chuk Hang, while the famous. Jiudushan also sold at a crackling price. They believe that the pricing of real estate cannot be generalized; the pricing is determined by the different conditions of each property, including location, transportation, surrounding environment, and the market environment at the time.

Asked about the current high vacancy rate of office buildings in Hong Kong and the rental situation of the Cheung Kong Group Center Phase II, Li Zezhu said that in the short term, as many reports have indicated, the new demand for office buildings in the market is really not high. In the long run, I am very confident about the future of the Changjiang Group Center Phase II because there is not much supply of high-quality office buildings with full sea views, which have always been located in Central. This is a sea-view office building in the core area, so don't worry too much.

Regarding Changshi's dividend reduction last year, Li Zezhu said that there is more than one way to repay shareholders. In addition to dividends, stock repurchase is also a method. Repurchasing company shares is also an investment. Changshi has been making repurchases. Since last year, it has repurchased more than 83 million shares, involving about HK$3 billion. This is also an indirect investment of the Group in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the Group should also consider the long-term interests of shareholders and continue to promote the future development of the company. For example, it recently acquired two new projects.

Li Zeji said that the Group's two recent acquisitions of new projects were not in Hong Kong. The Changjiang Group has always been an international enterprise over the past few decades, and now has investments and operations in more than 50 countries, involving different industries. When the Group makes every investment, the most important considerations are the quality, robustness and return of the project, and the most important is “counting”. Instead of choosing an investment location, choose an investment project. As long as there are high-quality assets with ideal returns, they will be considered regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong, the mainland, or elsewhere.

Furthermore, recently, some scholars said that the return on infrastructure investment is better than real estate. Li Zezhi believes that it is difficult to directly compare the two different industries. From moment to moment, in the case of the natural gas network company and environmental energy project recently acquired by the group, the return on both projects has double digits. Today, land prices and construction costs for real estate projects are high, and interest rates have always remained high. Today, it is not easy to obtain double-digit annual returns from the real estate business.